Today, we visited the MKA Ministries Children’s School in Hosanna. The school wasn’t very far from where we were staying, so it didn’t take long to get there.

When we arrived, I walked around the front of the van and was greeted with a hero’s welcome. I was very confused and figured they were doing this for our whole group. Samuel must have read the look on my face because he told me, “This is for you.”

On Monday morning, Samuel and I met up at 5:45 a.m. and got a ride to the Addis Ababa Airport. It was a very short drive, and we were dropped off a little before 6:00 a.m. We had to get through security to get to ticketing and get our boarding passes. After printing our boarding passes, we had to go through security again. I commented that this was strange, and Samuel told me that when we go home on Thursday, we will have to go through security four times.

It is my eighth day on the other side of the world, and I still wake up each morning and have to remind myself where I am. The plan for this day is only church and preparing to depart early tomorrow. We will only be gone for two nights, so we will not take all our luggage. There is a special storage location where we will keep most of our belongings while we are gone.

It has been a few days since an update. Thursday was a good day in class, finishing up discussing preaching Christ from the Psalms and Wisdom literature. Before moving on to Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, I had some good quotes from the book “War Psalms of the Prince of Peace” on the imprecatory Psalms to clarify our discussion the previous day. A big theme in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes is that there isn’t much gospel in them. I emphasized that any time we see the law in Proverbs, we will see our inability.

Today was less busy than the previous two days, which was a welcome change. A third day of teaching for more than four hours requires me to rest and prepare for finishing the week with the seminarians.

The morning session had the students sharing their discussions from Tuesday then we looked the Old Testament Law and History books. Some of the stories we discussed were the Ten Plagues in Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, Manna, and the water from the rock.

Another day of classes with the seminarians is in the books. We had an excellent time together discussing “What Christ-centered preaching looks like?” and “Proclaiming Christ in Genesis.” The engagement with the content I was teaching was encouraging, and I look forward to our journey through other parts of scripture in the coming days.

The most interesting part of the day was our trip to MKA’s Homeless Outreach.

Another good day on the other side of the world. Every morning, I wake up baffled at the fact that I’m in Africa.

Today was the first day of the class I am teaching. We are considering how to “Preach Christ from All of Scripture.” The students had to come from various distances on the first day, so we weren’t too concerned with getting there on time. We arrived at the church around 9:15 and tried to address some technical hiccups. There is no Wi-Fi at the church, so we needed to use a 4G portable hotspot to connect with a student in North Africa.

Today was the day the adventure really began. I was blessed to preach at a small church here in Addis Ababa. Pastor Bahru, who works for MKA Ministries, picked me up around 11, and we made our way through the city.

There is so much to see for someone who is used to a rural setting. As we drove, I saw everything from upscale clothing to people selling plastic stools on the side of the street.

Fourteen hours is a LONG time to be on an airplane. I found multiple ways to pass the time but unfortunately, none of those time passing activities was sleep.

The trip to teach in Ethiopia is underway. The flight to Chicago was uneventful, which is the best kind of flight. Sioux Falls was snowy and hazy. Chicago was sunny with significantly less snow.

On Wednesday, January 3, I met with Samuel Getachew to ask some final questions and confirm my preparations for my "Preaching Christ from All of Scripture" course. Throughout making preparations and having the trip on my mind, some crucial questions came to mind, and I needed insight from Samuel.